Investigating the reactions of rip current pattern and sediment transport in rip channel against changes of bed parameters using numerical simulations

Abstract

This paper consists the effects of bed parameters changes on rip current pattern and sediment transport in channels by means of numerical simulations. Model predictions are compared with field observations showing a reasonable agreement. Results of this research show the general pattern of hydrodynamic current in the form of eddies with reverse vorticity along the sides of rip current, so that the rate of erosion along the rip channel and location of sedimentation towards the offshore zone are affected by these eddies. Present study shows that morphologic changes in rip channel have a direct relation with non-dimensional rip flow velocity (_{_{<img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/ubar1.gif' border=0>}}) and changes in bed parameters, in a way that changes in non-dimensional cross-sectional flow area (_{_{<img src='http://www.niscair.res.in/jinfo/abar1.gif' border=0>}}) are severely affected by the distance of bar from the shoreline and slope.